'Hell is coming': Western Europe battles unprecedented heat wave as France records its highest temperature in history

Countries including France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and Portugal are experiencing a massive heat wave that began on Wednesday, with hot air coming from the Sahara.

Villevieille, a commune in southern France, was 45.1 degrees Celsius (113.18 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday afternoon, smashing the country's all-time temperature record. Many other national records have been broken.

The forecast is so intense that one Spanish meteorologist tweeted: "Hell is coming."

Some 15,000 people in France died when temperatures hit similar heights in August 2003. At least five people have already died in France and Spain.

Tweet Embed: //twitter.com/mims/statuses/1143472399553302528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Advice from @EU_ENV and @eu_echo: By 27 June, the #heatwave is expected to peak, with extreme temperatures all over the continent, with many values over 36°C and locally above 40°C. Avoid fire hazards and take care of your health health. Daily map at https://t.co/M35bZjG4SGpic.twitter.com/lrQt3yMA2q

Here's what we've seen:

The temperature in Villevielle, a small commune in southern France, was 45.1 C (113.18 F) around 3 p.m. on Friday. It broke the country's record of 44.1 C (111.4 F), which came in August 2003.

The southeastern French city of Carpentras recorded a temperature of 44.3 C (111.74 F) around the same time.

Météo France, the national weather agency, has put in red alerts — the highest weather warning — calling for "absolute vigilance" in some areas in southern France.

Most of Spain is expecting temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius (mid-to late 90s F) on Thursday, with multiple northern cities forecast to hit 42 C (107.6 F) on Friday, according to government weather agency Aemet. The heat is expected to last until at least Saturday.

Multiple Italian regions are expecting temperatures of the high-30s Celsius (late-90s F). The Italian health ministry has put seven major cities, including Florence and Rome, on the highest danger warning, the AP reported.

Temperatures on Thursday hit 38.6 C (101.5 F) in Coschen, near the German-Polish border, setting a new German national record for June.

Germany is forecast to heat up this weekend, with Berlin expecting a high of 39 C (102.2 F) on Sunday, the BBC reported.

Four out of five measuring stations across the Czech Republic have seen new daily records being set this week, with the temperature in the northern town of Doksany reaching a national high of 38.5 C (101.3 F).

Many locations in Switzerland broke their June temperature records on Wednesday, national weather agency Météo Suisse said.

The agency has placed some northern and southern Swiss regions on the highest weather danger alert, with some areas expecting a high of 36 C (96.8 F) until Monday.

Temperatures in Portugal are expected to hit mid-to-upper 30 degrees Celsius (upper 90s Fahrenheit) and could further rise to more than 40 C (104 F), Axios reported.

Parts of Poland are also expected to see temperatures rise to at least 35 to 40 C (95 to 105 F) this week — which is at least 11 to 17 C (20 to 30 F) above normal, The Washington Post reported.

Silvia Laplana, a meteorologist at Spain's state-owned RTVE channel, tweeted images of the forecast temperatures in the country this week with the caption "El infierno is coming." Infierno is the Spanish word for hell.

The combination of high temperatures, low humidity, and high winds then caused the fire to spread, The Guardian reported. Buch tweeted that the fire was "on a scale not seen for 20 years."

Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Though heat waves are not uncommon in Europe, this one is unusually early. Experts say climate change is making heat waves more common.

"This increase in heat extremes is just as predicted by climate science as a consequence of global warming caused by the increasing greenhouse gases from burning coal, oil, and gas," Stefan Rahmstorf, a climatologist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told the Associated Press.

Heat waves like this will continue to worsen if countries do not cut their greenhouse-gas emissions soon, a group of scientists warned in a report published earlier this month.